The Language Planning Situation in the Sultanate of Oman
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Current Issues in Language Planning ISSN: 1466-4208 (Print) 1747-7506 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rclp20 The language planning situation in the Sultanate of Oman Ali S. M. Al-Issa To cite this article: Ali S. M. Al-Issa (2020) The language planning situation in the Sultanate of Oman, Current Issues in Language Planning, 21:4, 347-414, DOI: 10.1080/14664208.2020.1764729 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2020.1764729 Published online: 14 May 2020. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 65 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rclp20 CURRENT ISSUES IN LANGUAGE PLANNING 2020, VOL. 21, NO. 4, 347–414 https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2020.1764729 The language planning situation in the Sultanate of Oman Ali S. M. Al-Issa Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY This paper examines the language planning situation in the Received 12 December 2018 Sultanate of Oman with emphasis on the planning of Arabic, Accepted 30 April 2020 English, French and German, and their choice and spread in KEYWORDS serving different interests and purposes. The paper explores the Language policy and historical, social, political, and ideological processes and planning; language in complexities of the language policy and planning (LPP) situation education planning; Arabic; in the Sultanate. The discussion attempts to show that language English; French; German planning, as carried out by the elites, is top-down and ideologically oriented and motivated, as it favors certain knowledge and traditions, while marginalizing and oppressing others. A brief introductory history of Oman is followed by an account of the language profile of the country. The paper then examines the role of Language in Education Planning (LEP) in the spread of Arabic, English, French, and German in schools and higher education. It concludes that there is an ideological struggle, contest, and conflict at the LEP level resulting in a lack of strategic planning and organized effort affecting language choice, language spread, language contact, language preservation, language maintenance, and language shift. Finally, the paper recommends avenues for further research and ways forward for LPP and LEP in Oman. Abbreviations: AALIM: Arab American Language Institute in Morocco; ACTFL: American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages; AFL: Arabic as a Foreign Language; ALT: Arabic Language Teaching; BES: Basic Education System; BTEC: Business and Technology Education Council; CA: Colloquial Arabic; CEFR: Common European Framework; CELTA: Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults; CfBT: Center for British Teachers; CFO: Centre Franco Omanais; CLS: Critical Language Scholarship; CLT: Communicative Language Teaching; CoE: College of Education; DAAD: German Academic Exchange Service; DALF: DiplômeApprofondi de Langue Française; DELF: Diplômed’Etudes en Langue Française; DELTA: Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults; ELT: English Language Teaching; EMI: English- medium instruction; FPEL: Foundation Program English Language; EU: European Union; GCCC: Gulf Cooperation Council Countries; GFP: General Foundation Program; GPA: Gulf Pidgin Arabic; GUtech: German University of Technology; H: High; ICC: Intercultural Communicative Competence; IELTS: International CONTACT Ali S. M. Al-Issa [email protected] Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group 348 A. S. M. AL-ISSA English Language Testing System; IESCO: Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; IGCSE: International General Certificate of Secondary Education; KSA: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; L: Low; LEP: Language in Education Planning; LPP: Language Policy and Planning; LWC: Language of Wider Communication; MENA: Middle East and North Africa; MoE: Ministry of Education; MoHE: Ministry of Higher Education; MSA: Modern Standard Arabic; NCATE: National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education; NRAA: National Records and Archive Authority; OAAA: Oman Academic Accreditation Authority; OIF: International Agency of La Francophonie; OPA: Oman Pidgin Arabic; OPEC: Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries; PDO: Petroleum Development Oman; PFLOAG: Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arabian Gulf; PHEIs: Private Higher Education Institutions; QA: Quranic Arabic; RWTH: Rheinisch- WestfälischeTechnischeHochschule; SCPTT: Specialized Centre for Professional Training of Teachers; SQU: Sultan Qaboos University; TCF: Test de connaissance du Français; TEF: Test d’ Evaluation de Francais; TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language; TOEIC: Test of English for International Communication; TVET: Technological Vocational Education and Training; UAE: United Arab Emirates; UN: United Nation; UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization; ZD: Zertifikat Deutsch Introduction The Sultanate of Oman: an historical overview The Sultanate of Oman is a relatively small country in south-west Asia, on the south- eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula (see Figure 1). Oman is a highly multilingual society with an extraordinarily rich and diverse history. Until the seventh century, Oman was dominated by Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians. Its geographical location at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and on the Strait of Hormuz has historically made it attractive to foreign powers, due to its strategically important position on trade routes to the east. In modern times, this location has given Oman significant geopolitical impor- tance. The Portuguese occupied Muscat, the capital, from 1508 to 1648, and fortified the city to protect their sea lanes. Shortly afterwards, the Ottomans drove out the Portuguese and occupied Muscat. However, they were pushed out themselves in 1741 by a Yemeni tribe (Sultanate of Oman, http://www.omansultanate.com/history.htm). After one last, brief invasion by Persia, in 1749 Oman was free of foreign occupying powers and has been self-governing ever since. Oman embraced Islam over 14 centuries ago (Royal Air Force Museum, https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/online-exhibitions/an-enduring- relationship-a-history-of-frienship-between-the-royal-air-force-and-the-royal-air-force- of-oman/a-history-of-oman.aspx). In the late seventeenth century, the Imam of Oman, Saif Bin Sultan, began a process of expansion down the east coast of Africa. In 1749, the current Al Said dynasty came to power in Oman. By 1783, the Omani Empire had expanded as far as Gwadar in present day Pakistan (see Figure 2). Oman became a powerful regional maritime trading power and, between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, built one of the most notable CURRENT ISSUES IN LANGUAGE PLANNING 349 Figure 1. The Sultanate of Oman (Political). non-European empires, spanning both the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean (see Figure 2). It took control of the coasts of present-day Iran and Pakistan, colonized Zanzi- bar (now a semi-autonomous region of Zimbabwe) and Kenyan seaports, brought back enslaved Africans, and sent boats trading as far as the Malay Peninsula. In fact, Zanzibar paid an annual subsidy to Muscat and Oman until its independence in early 1964. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oman). A succession crisis in 1856 had seen the Omani empire divided into the Sultanate of Oman and Muscat and the Sultanate of Zanzibar. The name ‘Muscat and Oman’ was the result of a succession struggle between the sons of Sultan Said Bin Sultan Al-Busaidi and the mediation of the British Government under the Canning Award. Britain had made the decision towards the end of eighteenth century to back the Al Busaidi monarchy of Muscat. To protect its expanding empire, Britain signed a Treaty of Friendship with Oman in 1798 under which Britain guaranteed the rule of the Sultan while advancing its own political and trade interests. In 1891, Oman and Muscat became a British Protectorate. By the end of the nineteenth century, Muscat had become increasingly dependent on British loans and remained in an underdeveloped state. The British government maintained vast administrative control over the Sultanate: The defense secretary and chief of intelligence, chief adviser to the sultan and all ministers except for one were British. The British Political Agent, who resided in Muscat, described the influence of the British government over Muscat as completely ‘self-interested.’ No attention was paid to the social and political con- ditions of the locals, which began to alienate tribes in the interior of Oman. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there were tensions between the Sultan in Muscat and the Imam in Nizwa (see Figure 3). This conflict was resolved tempor- arily by the Treaty of Seeb, which granted the Imam rule in the interior Imamate of Oman from Nizwa, while recognizing the sovereignty of the Sultan in Muscat and its surroundings. Under the 1951 Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation, Oman received indepen- dence from Britain. However, the years from 1954 to 1959 witnessed conflict between the 350 A. S. M. AL-ISSA Figure 2. The Omani empire. new elected Imam in Nizwa, and the Sultan in Muscat, due to the discovery of oil in the lands of the former. In what was known as the Jebel Akhdar